Export comps to the Render Queue or Media Encoder

Learn techniques for exporting After Effects compositions using the Render Queue and Adobe Media Encoder.

There are two ways to export compositions from After Effects: the Render Queue and Adobe Media Encoder. Each method has its benefits:

Render Queue is best for exporting a high-quality version of your composition for final delivery or as an intermediate file before encoding to a compressed delivery format. Because it’s built into After Effects, it’s always available and doesn’t have to be launched separately.

Adobe Media Encoder takes a snapshot of your timeline, so you can continue working in After Effects while your composition renders in the background. Adobe Media Encoder can also encode to a wide variety of media types and offers dozens of presets for specific purposes, like YouTube and Vimeo.

Export to Render Queue

Select File > Export > Add to Render Queue

Select Composition > Add to Render Queue

After adding your composition to the Render Queue, click the linked text next to Output Module to open a dialog box (bottom) where you can change video and audio output settings, as well as resize and crop.

Click the linked text next to Output To in the Render Queue to select the location for saving your rendered composition.

Finally, click the Render button to start the export process.

Export to Media Encoder

Select File > Export > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue

Select Composition > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue

After sending your composition to Adobe Media Encoder, drag the desired preset from the Preset Browser to your composition in the Queue panel. Click the linked text under Output File to determine where to save the project, and then click the green play button to start the exporting process.

You may also add compositions to the Adobe Media Encoder queue by dragging them directly from the Project panel in After Effects. You can do this while Adobe Media Encoder is still exporting.

Create a Watch Folder

To save time when working on large projects, you can set up a Watch Folder that will automatically send compositions to the Adobe Media Encoder queue. ﻿Joost van der Hoeven shows you how to automatically add video files to the queue, making encoding as simple as managing files on your hard drive.